The online rental service earned quite a bit of praise for pushing the envelope with a new distribution model, but it's time to see what the bottom line is for Netflix.

And the bottom line looked good enough as the online streaming giant hovered around the revenue target but smashed earnings expectations.

The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company reported a second quarter net income of $29.47 million with earnings of 51 cents per share (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were 49 cents per share on a revenue of $1.069 billion.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of 40 cents per share on a revenue of $1.07 billion.

Furthermore, Netflix added roughly 630,000 domestic subscriptions in Q2, bringing the grand total for the U.S. subscriber base to roughly 30 million. Netflix has another eight million now worldwide.

However, the subscription results fell below expectations of closer to 700,000.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells skirted around why this happened in prepared remarks:

We generally expect net additions in Q2 to be lower than prior year Q2 due to increased net-add seasonality as we grow. This Q2, however, was an exception, we believe due to the launch of Arrested Development. This show already had a strong brand and fan base, generating a small but noticeable bump in membership when we released it. Other great shows don’t have that noticeable effect in their first season because they are less established.

More points to know from Netflix's Q2:

Q2 streaming revenue was up 26 percent domestically and 155 percent internationally on an annual basis.

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